Devil's Backbone
by Reincarnated Poet
Summary: Oh lord, oh lord, what have I done? I've fallen in love with a man on the run. A Mal/Inara fanfiction based between Firefly and Serenity.


AN: I wrote a couple song fics recently, and I have to say, I love the simplicity of them, the quick pre-plot, the way the story's feel is already established. So, I'm going to do a bit of a NaNoWriMo gift for you all. Between now and the end of November, you all will be getting thirty little song-ficlets. I'm going to make a bit of a series out of this, so the songs will be listed at the bottom of each piece that applies. I'm hopping fandoms here, people, put on your seat belts. Songs will be chosen by the Gods of Chance, aka the good old I-Pod Shuffle.

The Devil's Backbone

Inara stood out on the balcony, watching one of the moons of Bellerophon sink low in its orbit over the desert. She was two days into a five day appointment, and already, she wanted nothing more than to hail Serenity back to planet. Her client was an older gentleman from even older money that had taken her into his heart more than his bed. They'd spent the evening drinking a berry-wine native to the planet and talking about what he had done as a younger man.

He'd been a general in the Unification War, and hearing tales from the Alliance side of things put her in the mind of another war veteran she knew. As the soft snores came from the bedroom behind her, floating through lavender gauzy curtains, she smiled into the dark. Mal was a different man than Lord Ralton-or Harry, as he'd begged her to call him. Vaguely, she wondered if Mal snored as she studied the stars.

The desert of Bellerophon was beautiful at night, when the heat of the day had leached away and the creatures could be heard scurrying around. It was yet untouched by the rest of the planet, of the hustle and bustle of the city. Lord Ralton had chosen his retirement well, settling in on a little canyon in the middle of the desert. He didn't receive company he didn't solicit, and once a week, he paid a transport vessel to fly him in food and water and all the creature comforts of the Core. He had quite a life, though, she supposed, if you had to hire a companion for company, you weren't really living.

A ship entered the atmosphere just on the edge of her vision, and she turned to watch the red-hot of atmo ignite alone the ship. It was a transport vessel, one much larger than the Serenity. Her home was nearly a star system away, collecting cargo for delivery to Bellerophon in three days time. She sighed and turned back to study the nightlife. It would be several hours before she fell asleep. Lord Ralton would sleep well into the next day, the afternoon really, and if she wasn't there in the bed with him, he might be offended, so awake she stayed until late, with little more to do than count coyotes.

Not for the first time, she longed for the quiet hum of the engine or for the sounds of Jayne getting up in the middle of the night to raid the kitchens or to share a cup of hot chocolate with Kaylee and River. Last night, as Lord Ralton has prattled on about how he'd single handedly won this battle or the next, she'd have done anything for Mal's quiet companionship or light hearted jibes. More and more, she'd found herself wishing that the person on the other side of her tea set was a little taller, a touch lankier, with a more wry smile. It took her a long time to discover the why of it. It might take her twice as long to admit it out loud.

"Inara?" Lord Ralton called from his bed. She could see him, half sat up on an elbow, looking out toward the balcony. She smiled and drew her nightgown around her shoulders more tightly. The fabric was luxurious, nearly see through, and it felt like clouds against her skin. The dull slither of it against her skin made her miss the comfortable pajamas she could wear on Serenity.

"My lord," she said softly, slipping past the gossamer curtains and into the bedroom. He had an odd expression on his face as she walked toward the foot of the bed, turning the Companion charm on with a little dip of her chin and the angle of her hips. "I was drawn to the beauty of the desert."

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

"A beauty of a thing," he agreed, sitting up the rest of the way to study her. She was aware of the figure she made in the moonlight, back lit with her hair in tumbling curls over her shoulders. There was little the night gown kept to the imagination, and he reacted as any man would. "But a beauty I see every day. I'd rather your beauty in my bed than on my balcony."

If, when they made love, she imagined younger hands and a longer frame, she whimpered the right name, and no one would be the wiser.

"My dear Inara, why do you do this to yourself?" Lord Ralton asked as they reclined on the balcony in the sunlight. They yet had a few hours on their appointment, and Lord Ralton had asked her to spend it with him outside, enjoying the weather. She suspected he was trying to show her the beauty of his home, to convince her to stay.

"Do what, my Lord?" she asked. No matter how many times he asked, she could not bring herself to call him Harry, and each time, it made him sigh to hear his title.

"You are in love, child," he said softly, using a pet name he hadn't in the five days they'd shared. Looking at him, she could see his age in his eyes. The heat of his gaze disappeared, and there was a paternal unease in him now. "Don't think an old man can't see it."

"If I am in love, it is with this weather," she said, ignoring the vague throbbing in her chest and the disapproving glance that he sent her way. She ignored a lot of things.

She ignored it for three months until she was once again standing on his balcony, staring down at the desert as it came to life in the early evening. Animals started to come out of hiding, skittering around and going about their business. The Serenity would be touching down in the morning, and Wash had sent a wave earlier letting her know that they were coming in earlier than expected. Business had gone well for the first time in years.

Mal had been in the background of the wave, shouting something about stolen cargo and getting it stowed properly, but Inara didn't much care because the hammering in her chest had exploded to life with a heavy drum beat. She'd smiled, told them they would expect them, and gone back to her lazy day with Lord Ralton, who hadn't laid a heated finger on her since her arrival. He busied them with games and fine meals, but at night, they slept on opposite sides of his bed, an ocean between them.

The Serenity came in hot, thrusters burning and an odd, buzzing energy to her that made Inara nervous. Normally, they would settle down, greet her on open ground, but the panicked wave from Wash had her scrambling to the shuttle.

"We got pinged. If we don't go now, we won't be able to come back for you." His words spurred her on as she flipped ignition switches and powered up the shuttle.

"I'm coming," she said. "Prepare for docking." The shuttle came to life around her, lifting off as soon as she willed it, brought the metal to life beneath her hands. She could see them in the distance on her radar, three large cruisers, Bellerophon Alliance Coalition coming down on their heads.

"Maybe you don't want to be seen docking on board, Inara," Mal's voice came through the comms. She glared down at the speaker as if he could see her. If she didn't dock now, she might not see them again for months, years until it was safe enough to enter airspace again to pick her up. "Fancy lady like you could find another ship, a better crew."

Dark eyes flickered up to the cruisers, close enough to identify her little shuttle now. She sighed, hit the throttle, and connected to the anchoring gear a little more roughly than she'd intended. The scowl didn't leave her face until she was storming down the catwalk, Mal standing a little ways down, one hand in his belt like he needed it there to hold him together.

"What did you get us into this time, Captain?" she asked, voice more stern than she'd intended.

"Job went like the job went," he said, squaring up to her. "Don't need you tellin' me how to do it."

"Apparently, you do. What could be so important that you'd burn a planet for it?" Because that's what he had done. Serenity would be unable to return to Bellerophon again. Inara's name, her good name with the Alliance, would be muddied soon enough. It wasn't private that Sir Ralton employed her services. It wasn't impossible to get the records from the Academy.

"I don't transport slaves, Inara. They said fifty head, I figured it was more cattle. Pigs. Hell, I thought maybe they'd got them some horses needed moving, but I'm not a slaver, Inara. I won't be." His entire frame had shifted, hardened, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. The ire in her deflated, burned out to nothing more than a spark of something else. A spark of something else she was tired of ignoring.

"Slavery? On Bellerophon?"

"I'm sorry your fancy gentleman won't be enjoying your company courtesy of my Firefly, but there are some lines I won't-"

The slap caught him off guard. He worked his jaw, rubbing at it with a wry smile. If the assault didn't shock him, the kiss that followed certainly did.

"You're an idiot," she said softly, forehead wresting against his chest. "I don't care about Bellerophon, Mal."

"I did get that impression," he said. "Though I'm gettin' another impression you've been tryin' your damndest to avoid."

"I thought I'd give up this life of whoring and become something more upstanding," she said, and the chuckle that went through him was worth it.

"Like a space pirate?" he asked.

"Like crew on a perfectly legitimate transport vessel that sometimes has more fun than others."

"Funny that, cause I have a position on board might could use fillin', if you were willing." He paused, and his hands on her hips lightened. "Givin' up an awful lot, 'Nara. I'm not a good man." She sighed and shook her head.

"Ask Shepherd Book how many Hail Mary's between the two of us, and I'll start saying them tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Mal asked, a smile on his face.

"Tomorrow," she agreed, drawing him back toward her shuttle.

-fin-

 _0\. Landslide, Stevie Nicks - 100 - A Bellarke piece_  
 _1\. Devil's Backbone, The Civil Wars - Firefly - A Mal/Inara piece_


End file.
